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Black Star (Book 1)
Black Star is a story about Sebastian Blake, a Federation pilot who obtains the cosmic powers of a black hole. Through his advbentures he counts on friends, old and new in his attempt to survive and deliver truth and justice to the people of the galaxy. The production itself is best described as a cinematic audio experience, with a full cast of voice actors, complete dimensional sound design and an original soundtrack of over 70 compositions. Throughout the story, the audience can experience a multitude of environments and locations visited by the characters of Black Star. Characters * Sebastian Blake * Fantessa Garrok * Roger Clements * Corjex * DINA * Cera Lamoureaux * Riptide * Hush * Star Hunter * Atom Vega * Merope * Amy Siran Locations * Koyash System * Axiom * Rehssage * Dyson * Krono Alpha * Eledon Base * The ECNH Patriarch * Pelias-12 ** Ursa-4 Hab-Dome *** Calypso's ** Artemis Hab-Dome * Eledon System * Earth Defense * Cauteron ** Mt. Allizar Ships and Vessels * Harbinger * The Light Runner * J-3 Shuttle * E-43 Lancer * The Advent Favor * ECNH Patriarch * Siran's Patrol Ship * Magellan Labs * Dragon Craft * Mud Cat's Personal Speeder * Mud Shuttle * New Federation Flagship * CG-50 Samson Puller * Mech Knight * Swarm Fighter * Ronin T Fighter Organizations, Groups and Events * The Allied Federation * Star Hearts * Horizon Labs * The Maw * The Mowari * The Jubilee * ECNH * The Tragedy of Centauri * The Colonization Effort * The Hydron War * Earth Council Summary of events (contains spoilers) Chapter 1 - Marooned: Sebastian Blake wakes up in his escape pod that was jettisoned onto a desert moon. With his memory still recovering from a crash landing, he soon discovers the harsh conditions he has landed in and seeks refuge with another survivor Roger Clements. The desert moon is part of a binary solar system that contains a neutron star. The two stars of the system provide the moon with dramatic day cycles, high temperatures and unfavorable levels of radiation. Roger informs Sebastian that The Federation carrier, The Harbinger, which they were stationed on, was hit by solar flare from the system's neutron star, causing it to plummet planet-side into a visibly neighboring gas giant. Search parties visited the escape pods of Roger and Sebastian to find them abandoned for less intense environmental conditions. Desperate for shade and water Sebastian and Roger let their guard down to refresh and are stalked by the yoshmare. Chase eventually ensues and the yoshmare corners Sebastian and Roger into a canyon cave where they fall deeper beneath the moon's surface into a cavern lake. After drawing near to the surface, Sebastian discovers a monolithic sphere called Odune. With its last living moments, Odune gives Sebastian his cosmic power as the system's neutron star collapses into a black hole. While Sebastian is debilitated, Roger drags Sebastian aboard The Light Runner and narrowly escape cosmic destruction. Aboard The Light Runner Sebastian and Roger meet Corjex who informs them of this ships past before examining Sebastian for injuries. Corjex discovers that a symbiote parasite has fused itself to Sebastian's living tissue and reports that it cannot be safely removed. Sebastian and Roger decide it best not to mention this to command when they regroup with The Federation. Sebastian and Roger reach Axiom on The Light Runner where Sebastian is immediately summoned personally by Admiral Hank Dekkar. Chapter 2 - Wanted: During questioning, Sebastian lies to omit details about the symbiote parasite to avoid becoming lab meat. Rear Admiral Cera Lamoureaux is unsatisfied with the results of the subtle interrogation and conceives extracting information by drugging Sebastian during medical evaluation. Convinced of imminent danger, Sebastian pleads with Rodger to recover his escape pod's Digital Interface Navigations Assistant (DINA) and to escape aboard The Light Runner at once. With Corjex and now DINA, Sebastian and Roger flee to Rehssage to investigate energy readings similar to those on the desert moon in order to find answers about Sebastian's symbiote parasite. With Axiom left in chaos Sebastian and Roger are labeled as traitors by Lamoureaux, who has hires the help of Riptide, a notorious bounty hunter. Riptide has received multiple work requests from Lamoureaux before but has denied them due to her affiliation with The Federation which has caused him grief in the past. Contracting through Exo-net is sidestepped altogether when Star Hunter interrupts a bounty and strongarms Riptide and his crew to take the job under him and not Lamoureaux. Upon arrival to Rehssage, Sebastian and Roger are warmly welcomed by the indigenous Mowari. They are lead by the tribes princess Fantessa Garrok, to a sacred jungle temple to find Leen. Leen reveals the truth about the symbiote parasite to Sebastian, explaining Leen and Odune are ancient cosmic beings known as Star Hearts. the power he now has that connects him to the star of the system where it was obtained. Leen also explains the grave danger it brings, attracting the attention of Star Hunter, who will surely want to kill Sebastian for having a power so similar to his own. Worried, reluctant and stressed Sebastian heads back for The Light Runner to contemplate his new responsibilities that he did not ask for. Just outside the temple they are confronted by Riptide and his team including Hush and Totem. Aware that his power still remains a secret, Sebastian holds back jeopardizing the life of Roger. With the intervention of Fantessa, Sebastian and the growing crew of The Light Runner are able to escape with their lives. Roger in critical condition receives treatment aboard The Light Runner while Fantessa and Sebastian deliberate Fantessa joining the crew. Chapter 3 - Something Ventured: DINA finds more matching readings of high cosmic energy and the crew heads to Dyson. Not long after landing, Sebastian runs into Atom Vega. After some heckling, Vega reveals that he may know something that could help Sebastian. Weary to trust, Sebastian bites and takes the advice of his old academy colleague. Fantessa and Sebastian sneak into Dysons engineering levels while the entire populous is distracted celebrating The Jubilee. Deep in engineering, Fantessa and Sebastian meet The Old Machine who already knows about Sebastian and his abilities. Alarmed at this, Sebastian is again Weary to take help but Fantessa urges him forward. The Old Machine tells Sebastian Where he can find a map to the location of every known Star Heart in the galaxy in order to find Star Hunters source of power to stop him. Sebastian and Fantessa Return to The Light Runner and depart from Dyson. Clements is recovering well from the encounter on Rehssage and enjoys Robomorpherz 3000 as a get well gift found on Dyson. Sebastian decides to bring the crew somewhere isolated where they can practice their abilities without doing damage before risking another confrontation and they head to Krono Alpha before seeking the star map. After seeing the effect on his body of using his new power, Sebastian rests and tries again. Chapter 4 - Something Gained Sebastian's curiosity gets the better of him after using a black hole to lift objects instead of devouring them. Sebastian decides to open two black holes and collide them in reckless curiosity against the advice of Fantessa and Roger. Doing this reveals a dimensional index that Sebastian can access though it fatigues him rapidly and can cause him to pass out inside his own black hole, leaving the outside world to destruction. While inside his own black hole, Sebastian can access any other black hole he has opened and exit through it into himself, like passing through an open window into another point in time. Though he is unaware of its full potential at this point, Sebastian is aware of the destruction it causes from the impact of two black holes alone. Satisfied with his control over his abilities, Sebastian takes The Light Runner to the coordinates provided by The Old Machine to find the hidden star map. Riptide and Hush are summoned to meet Star Hunter and Lamoureaux aboard the new flagship under construction at Eledon Base. Lamoureaux, dissatisfied with the lack of delivery from Riptide and hush warns the bounty hunters how their incompetence will cause them trouble in the future under her new rule. Star Hunter reiterates his original requests to the bounty hunters that Sebastian is to be captured alive so he may confront him himself. Riptide is compensated for the loss of a squad mate and leaves to find another. An open request to join via Exo-net is received via transmitter and Riptide and Hush leave to Dyson to recruit. The request ends up a wash after the other bounty hunter Arden tries to recruit Riptide to the bounty for Juno Swift. Riptide and Hush investigate Dyson after reports of leads until notified of The Light Runner's location. The Light Runner arrives at Alpha Centauri and the team finds The ENCH Patriarch derelict at the coordinates given by The Old Machine. They board and discover the massive ship was left in ruin after what appears to have been some major chaos. After finding numerous corpses that had died from violent deaths, the crew uses their new EVM suits to scan and analyze findings. Shortly after they begin to experience strange anomalies. Fantessa, Roger and Sebastian force their way into Navigations where they are able to download the ships star map and the captains log that gives insight to the tragic events of the ENCH Patriarch. Sebastian discovers the deaths of many passengers happened after finding a strange plant sample called The Glass Bloom. This lead to a secret and gruesome betrayal lead by the alleged rescue crew who opened fire on The Patriarch to keep its events a secret. Sebastian wants to recover The Glass Bloom as evidence and to share the truth for justice and honor to those lost in the tragedy. Fantessa immediately disagrees and wants to leave the ship as Neckmytes close in on their location. Sebastian ultimately decides to retrieve The Glass Bloom. Chapter 5 - The Glass Bloom: Fighting their way to Botanical, the crew is paged by Corjex who has analyzed scans of the dead bodies found on The Patriarch. The crew has largely been infested by Neckmytes causing a quarantine to be enforced. Corjex explains the infested crew is now an animalistic violent horde. The crew gets into Botanical and finds an old Transmitter log from a lab tech documenting the discovery of The Glass Bloom and its location in the lab. The Glass Bloom is secured and the crew hurries back to The Light Runner as The Patriarchs systems reactivate unleashing other creatures unimagined. The crew is then confronted by what appears to be a culmination of creatures they have all experienced individually, The Armored Glow-Squid. it quickly gives birth to a litter of hungry offspring and now the crew is fighting for survival against the clock. As The Light Runner is struggling to stay docked with the now active outer ring of The Patriarch, Sebastian uses one last black hole against The Armored Glow-Squid and closes it, passing out after it is half devoured. Fantessa and Clements fight their way back hauling Sebastian to find the docking airlock needs a manual open from the outside. Corjex is aware and risks frying his circuits to leave The Light Runner and save the crew. Corjex uses a warp grenade from The Light Runners fabricator to set a tether and retrieve the crew before being warped back altogether to the tether. Corjex is ruined but the crew has survived. Upon Sebastian waking, The Light Runner momentarily turns into The Patriarch as a result of The Glass Blooms effect on focused thought. Clements and Fantessa attempt to repair Corjex and Sebastian is ready to rest. The anomalies continue as the decommissioned Corjex talks to Sebastian, Fantessa and Clements report simultaneous sightings of Sebastian in different locations of The Light Runner, and Sebastian's dreams begin to manifest outside The Light Runner even in Jump Space. With Sebastian unresponsive and unable to awake, Fantessa has to pilot The Light Runner from the now manifested giant Glow Rays attacking The Light Runner. To end Sebastian's runaway dreams Roger and Corjex rush Sebastian into cryo before Fantessa and Roger join. This ensures The Glass Bloom can be disposed of since thoughts and dreams do not happen in cryo and DINA and Corjex jettison The Glass Bloom while in jump space. Chapter 6 - Frontier Now on the search for other iron stars, the crew is lead to Pelias-12 where they land at a non Federation outpost, Ursa-4. Here Sebastian runs into Amy Siran and Merope after stopping at a local hot spot Calypso's to get Krylek and unwind. The crew parties up with Amy and Merope to go prospecting out on the surface for Element 682. Though Sebastian is secretly looking for another Star Heart he has no luck and comes back empty handed. Amy reveals to Sebastian that she's not done with her past and still has feelings for him. Amy invites Sebastian to leave with her and to start the life they used to look forward to earlier in their careers. Sebastian ultimately denies leaving Amy heartbroken. A severe storm on the way causes the halt of all surface and air traffic outside the Ursa-4 hab-dome. Sebastian decides to act quick before the lockdown to find the Star Heart. Chapter 7 - Before Dawn Amy quickly discovers Sebastian and Clements are wanted by The Federation and reports the traitors to command. Riptide, Hush, Lamoureaux and Star Hunter are on their way. Blake finds the Star Heart named Gorbek who is of no help. He is towed back by local patrol and ultimately handed over to Star Hunter who takes him to Fantessa and Clements who are awaiting their executions. Riptide and Hush want payback for the loss of Totem on Rehssage and are allowed to kill Fantessa and Clements in front of Blake. Blake is dropped off on a lonely planet in The Eledon system where he greives the loss of his friends. There he recalls Star Hunter hinting at Blake's ability to time travel through his black holes. He successfully arrives just before his conversation with Gorbek and rushes back to warn Fantessa and Clements to escape. They regroup and plan to steal Amy Siran's ship after The Light Runner is towed away by Lamoureaux to Eledon Base. Upon breaking into Amy's ship, Merope reveals her support for Blake's cause by simply letting them onto Amy's ship and turning a blind eye. When asked to join the crew Merope refuses which she later regrets. Fantessa pilots the crew to the Eledon Base where they sneak into the new flagship to steal the new access codes to The Light Runner. Here the crew hears Lamoureaux explain her plan to use The Light Runner as the scapegoat for a planned attack against Earth where she plans to kill The Admiral so she may take his place in war time. While preparing their escape, Star Hunter re-enters the room and seizes Blake acknowledging he knows Blakes true identity as Black Star. Fantessa attempts to intervene and Star Hunter forces her to admit her secrets to Blake and Clements. Fantessa explains to Blake that Star Hunter used to be Blake and that she also has the power of Leen's star. Fantessa reveals she has been known as Star Light. Star Hunter explains to Blake that Blake must recapture The Light Runner from Lamoureaux if he wants to stop himself from becoming Star Hunter, and if he wants to ultimately stop the destruction of mankind. Ultimately betrayed Sebastian has no choice but to agree. Chapter 8 - Forevermore: Inside the hangar of the new flagship, the crew sees several new, unidentified swarm fighters. The crew fails to reach The Light Runner before Riptide and Hush leave in it to start the attack on Earth, so they Take The Advent Favor instead. Near Earth Admiral Hank Dekkar is giving a commemorative speech honoring the decade of peacetime humanity has had after ending The Hydron War. The Admiral is ready to christen the new peacetime carrier vessel The Odessa when it is attacked by The Light Runner being piloted by Riptide. Among the first to respond to the Odessa's distress call is Rear Admiral Lamoureaux aboard The Crusader. The Crusader sends fighters to combat the swarm fighters that have found their way to the battle. Shortly after the destruction of The Odessa The Advent Favor enters the battle causing trouble for Lamoureaux. Lamoureaux orders ships to take out The Advent Favor as the crew is under attack from two enemies and cannot break free to chase The Light Runner. Merope, Atom Vega lead the newly formed Black Squadron to help Blake break free to capture The Light Runner and Blake breaks away. The Advent Favor follows The Light Runner to Cauteron where Riptide and Hush are awaiting an exchange with Lamoureaux to hand over The Light Runner. The crew loads up and lands planet-side to take back The Light Runner. Riptide and Hush anticipate the attack and set up for confrontation. The crew enters Mt. Allizar and navigates the volcanic caves where they are met by Hush who mortally wounds Clements and attempts to lure Fantessa away for another kill. Fantessa uses her solar power to kill Hush and changes into her clothes. Sebastian tries his best to get Clements to The Light Runner where he can be treated for his wounds but is stopped by Riptide. Chapter 9 - Catalyst Fantessa shows up in disguise as Hush and tries to get Clements on board but confrontation unfolds and Blake and Fantessa use their powers to burn and devour Riptide. Clements is rushed on board where Corjex and DINA are reactivated to help but its too late. Blake suggests going back in time to undo this death as well but is met with objection from Fantessa and Corjex. Fantessa tells Blake this is how Star Hunter eventually became who he is. Knowing time is them, the crew leaves Cauteron mourning their loss and launches an override command over all broadcast channels. While Lamoureaux is being inaugurated and promoted to Fleet Admiral, Sebastian shares the truth over all channels causing immediate division among viewers. A simple but clear demand of justice and call to arms to everyone about to be affected by the coming events. Trivia * Black Star was originally written as a 3 page, short story assignment in a creative writing class by Randy Greer. After feeling there was much more to be shown than the words on the page, It was adapted 2 years later into a short script and performed by Randy, and 2 other performers before being shelved for 2 more years due to not having suitable performances. Finally in 2017 writing picked up again and multiple performers were discovered through local theatre performances * The sounds of The Advent Favor flying include recordings of a rehabilitated Barn Owl. The idea of using a bird of prey for the deadly bounty hunter's ship seemed fitting to Randy Greer * Randy Greer met Michael Fassbender while recording sounds of race cars to use for space ships. * All combined Black Star work sessions total over 500 GB of disc space. * Nearly all laughter used in the production is genuine laughter from recording session banter. * There is a hidden ongoing gag about "organs" that appears multiple times in story. ** In the Axiom Hangar over the intercom as a PSA to become an organ donor ** During Robomorpherz 3000 in dialogue ** After corjex wakes the crew from cryo ** A disclamer during a McSquidge's commercial upon entering the Ursa-4 hab-dome ** The game Organ Grinder in the Calypso's Reality Console Arena ** A battle cry during the Eledon Base shootout * Upcoming Black Star content is mentioned during an open bounty update at Ursa-4 * Upcoming Black Star content is mentioned during a news cast on Ursa-4 * The ECNH Patriarch, The Old Machine and characters met on Pelias-12 are all references to separate music projects and concept albums that were written by Randy Greer but never produced.